Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate, said he supports a woman’s right to an abortion, in part, because it helps combat the effects of climate change.

Sanders was responding to an audience member at CNN’s climate town hall who asked if he supports curbing population growth as a way to “address climate catastrophe.”

“The answer is yes and the answer has everything to do with the fact that women in the United States of America, by the way, have a right to control their own bodies and make reproductive decisions,” he said on Wednesday evening. “And the Mexico City Agreement, which denies American aid to those organizations around the world that allow women to have abortions or even get involved in birth control — to me is totally absurd.”

Sanders continued, “So I think, especially in poor countries around the world where women do not necessarily want to have large numbers of babies, and where they can have the opportunity through birth control to control the number of kids they have, it’s something I very, very strongly support.”